Prior art technologies for displaying images on the wheels of vehicles have been developed. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 20030042310 discloses a tire flasher display in which a text message is written directly on the tire. A strobe light is mounted for illuminating the tire. The frequency of the strobe light is correlated to the speed of the tire such that the text message is illuminated only in the same readable position during the rotation of the tire. As a result, the text message appears to remain stationary.
There are a number of problems with this approach. First, it is time-consuming to change the text message. In fact, it is impossible to change the text message while the tire is moving. Further, strobe lights are expensive in terms of the power required to provide the illumination, and are also heavy, which is unacceptable in racing contexts.
Other illumination devices exist that partially address the problems raised by the tire flasher display of the above-identified U.S. patent application. However, in a more general sense, the above two problems remain with these prior art devices. That is, with many of the prior art devices, it is time-consuming to change the pattern displayed, and, in fact, is often impossible to change the pattern displayed while the tire is moving. Further, elements must often be mounted off the tire, but adjacent to the tire on the frame of the vehicle, increasing installation time and adding additional weight to the vehicle.